On Any Other Day

[earthborn]

Who| Shepard And Her Adoring Fans
What| The Customer Complaints Desk Is [OPEN]
Where| A lovely little park outside a lovely little café on a quiet day when the sun is shining, just after a certain network post
When| The morning after Shepard's Exposé goes live.
Warnings/Notes| Talk of murder, genocide, cussing, and political discourse. God help us all.

The sun is shining, the birds are singing, she's got a rail-thin barrista with a shock of violet-pink hair, and he keeps bringing her coffee from all the way across the street. On any other day, she'd call it perfect— he keeps sarcastically saluting her and she keeps sarcastically thanking him as 'private', and the coffee is damn good in addition to cheap and hand-delivered. On any other day.

But despite the shining weather and the convenient caffeine-drip, she's not set up here with the empty chair beside her own for the sake of simple joys.

Come at me, bro.

Comments

[earthborn]

"The Batarians didn't believe the Reapers were more than some crock I'd made up to justify genocide. They kept on believing I'd only done it for about the same reasons the Capitol is saying I did... until the Reapers showed up on their doorstep."

It's gratifying to see Mindy chew up and swallow the story. How many times had she told the very simple story of the Reapers, coming to kill them all, only to be laughed at? Well it was a hell of a lot more complicated nowadays, and could only seem even more fantastic when put against the backdrop of the sunny park, and all the relative normalcy of daily life. It was boogeymen in the dark, shadows to jump at, and all of that made horribly, horrifically real.

"Turned myself in as soon as I could disengage from my other obligations. At the end of it, I got six months, most of it firmly in Alliance hands, and none of it was a lot of fun, but it seems kinda petty to bitch about 'advanced interrogation techniques' given the relative carnage involved in the Reaper War," She rubbed a hand down her face, remembering— no. Focus. Poker face, Shepard, you're good at poker, "Most people back home, endangered species aside, don't really care about Aratoht anymore. We've all got bigger problems."

And wasn't that just a lovely little understatement.

"Anything else?"

[hit_girl_mindy]

"It's always that was with some people: unless you show them in front of their face what the fuck is going on, they're going to believe they're safe and there's no reason to shake things up. It's a dangerous state of mind to be in, more than thinking everything's out to get you, in my opinion."

Mindy did not think Shepard was lying: she had seen her train others, had seen her in the Arena. She was ruthless, quick, non relenting: this, to her, was not the sign of someone who was crazy and loved carnage. It was the sign of a trained military mind, who was used to making tough decisions when she needed to.

"I guess the only other question was that shit about you brainwashing people into becoming killers or whatever, through gas lighting."

Seriously, how the hell did that work?

[earthborn]

"Well, if I could've just brainwashed people into things, that would have saved me a ton of trouble."

Really, Mindy? Really?

"I can't speak for everyone on my crew, but most of the ones I fight alongside have asked some pretty heavy favors of me over the years. And I've asked them to put their lives on the line for me in return. We're friends, and it's not as if any one of them is going to argue that what I'm trying to do isn't important. Way I see it, brainwashing doesn't enter into it," She's had a lot of practice rolling her eyes over the years, but this is a good one. Watch the technique— Nice. Very smooth, "But if you wanna quiz Garrus or Thane about it, you're welcome to. Those aren't my stories to tell."

[hit_girl_mindy]

"Hey, I don't know everyone's abilities! I was watching Sandy in the Arena and one of those troll guys was able to do some mind fuckery on her. How do I know you couldn't do the same thing?"

Fucking Capitol and their lies. Jesus.

"Ok, then that's about what I was curious about. I mean, you meet someone and you think you know them, and then you hear they practice mass genocides for kicks. You sort of have an obligation to get the story straight. And no, I don't believe every word they tell me, but you sort of have to wonder why they suddenly want to instigate shit out of the blue, you know?"

[earthborn]

Ah yes, Kurloz fucking Makara. As ever.

"I don't think the right knows what the left is doing with these people, but if I—" She stopped herself, thoughtful, and frowned. Maybe Mindy could handle this,"...There's an Avox walking around with the same face as mine. Donatello remembers a Jane Shepard here before, one that isn't me, that I don't remember being, and if you dig far enough back into the archives, the first non-native victor of the Games is a Commander J Shepard. I don't know what anyone else did to earn a little mud on their face, but I've got a pretty good idea about my own problems. And as I'm sure you've noticed, I'm not very good at keeping my head down."

[hit_girl_mindy]

"I'd heard about that." Mindy sighed, because even thinking about the Avox was frightening, no point in acting like she was totally secure with that. "I haven't seen her yet, but with that being there, you start to wonder if there's a kind of hiccup in whatever they use to bring us here. But if they're really trying to intimidate you into being a good little girl, you're not the only one. They had the science guy before you and Venus comes next. It just makes me wonder what the hell anyone has to gain from all this. Are you all that dangerous that they want to bring that much bullshit out on you that they can make up?"

[earthborn]

"You've seen me in the practice room. I've broken bones and I've made people bleed. Last week, I got Orc to completely destroy some of the equipment, for fun. I ripped off a guy's ear, one time. Why aren't I wearing one of those house arrest bracelets?"

She held out her bare wrist to make a point of it. Ah, now this, this was shop-talk. Tactics, interplay, strategy. Intimidation was a familiar weapon, both for and against Shepard; she knew this dance.

"So far as I know, it's the same reason the Peacekeepers don't bother me any of the other times I say or do stupid shit. Because I'm not a kid, I'm not stupid, and I'm not allied with the Rebellion, such as it may be. But I am a professional, and they are absolutely aware of the body-count I'd wrack up before they put me down, if they push me," she put her wrist away, quite calm, and resumed leaning on her knees with a sigh, "'Course the Capitol citizenry isn't going to react particularly well to 'mad tribute goes on a killing spree downtown,' and I'd definitely get run to death by the end of it, so I'm not exactly excited about the prospect. So for me? It's a power-play. Remind me that they can say and do whatever they want, yank the leash, maybe shake a few of my new allies and training-buddies. For Carlos? I'd say they're legitimately attempting to discredit him. Won't know how this is going to affect Miss Milo until we see it happen."

[hit_girl_mindy]

"I can totally see Orc doing that if he's not busy feeling guilty about smashing anything." Granted, attempting that and succeeding was something. She could imagine that not too many of Shepard's fans were going to be too receptive to this whole expose. If anything, she might get more notoriety because of it.

"Then again, that's probably why they're not trying to stop you. as long as you rip a guy's ear off in the Arena and not outside of it, what do they care? People like you make the Arena interesting. If the last Shepard won the first of the Neverending Quell, why wouldn't they think 'she'll be a crowd pleaser so long as she doesn't step out of line?"

She didn't look too pleased about them mentioning Venus though. "That might hit Ellie hard though, the Venus thing."

[earthborn]

"Ellie's tough and smart," that was the worst of it, the kids who always needed to be stronger than they should have had to be. Mindy included, though Shepard was a pragmatist.

After all, the younger self she could easily imagine in Mindy's place would have accepted nothing less than to be treated like an equal, "She'll either figure out what's the truth, or she'll get over it. Right now, we all just need to keep our heads, and not do anything we haven't thought all the way through."

[hit_girl_mindy]

"I know," Mindy said, even though she wished that Ellie didn't necessarily have to keep dying in the games. She knew damn well that she could show people what she was made of, but after the Aunamee thing, a part of her hoped she wouldn't have to deal with another awful death again.

"Knowing her, she might not care. She kinda worships the woman, so she might just start cursing out the Capitol for doing their shit in the firs place. Glad I didn't jump to conclusions though."

[earthborn]

"Which is fine until it goes too far, and then it's a good way to get yourself lynched," Shepard replied, Mindy's scenario was an easy lead, "I don't know her too well, but even I can see that restraint isn't Ellie's best skill."

That would...have to be an understatement. Ellie had a mouth on her like ten truckers combined.

"You say anything to her?"

[hit_girl_mindy]

"Lynched? Nah. They don't do something that stupid unless they have no choice, from all the stories I heard. If you run your mouth like Ellie can, they do something better, in their case anyway: they make an example of you. Don't believe me, just ask Ian. Either one."

She shook her head. "I'm not gonna bother her. She has enough shit to think about."